Quit fixating on the Beltway sideshow
If you missed Digby’s Thursday post on what’s happening in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, go back and review. All the political mishchief is not happening on Capitol Hill.
The Marc Elias Democracy Docket newsletter this morning warns yet again to pay attention to what”s happening in red state courts dominated by MAGA judges:
North Carolina (for better or worse) elects its judges and Democrats failed to hold the state Supreme Court in November. Turnout was disappointing. There are multiple reasons why. Among them:
For those wondering why North Carolina Democrats including Cheri Beasley fared more poorly than Democrats in other states last November, districting uncertainty (combined with Democrats’ fecklessness in recruiting) meant Democrats in 2022 left 14 of 50 state Senate seats and 30 of 120 state House seats uncontested. Democrats in those districts had no state legislative Democrats to turn out for.
Democrats in one-quarter of NC legislative districts, many of them very red, had no reason in 2022 to turn out for local Democrats running for legislative seats because there were none to vote for. Cheri Beasley’s U.S. Senate campaign lacked the moxie to motivate them in those areas and could not make up the turnout deficit.
Local races matter, even in rural, red districts. Lose the vote there and you can lose statewide. Even if Democrats don’t win out there, it’s important to shave Republican margins. Lose the legislature and you let the MAGAs run wild. Lose state courts? Same thing. See above. It’s state legislatures, stupid.
Democrats were able to hold two U.S. Senate seats (elected statewide) in Georgia because half that state’s electorate resides in the Atlanta metro area. Less than half of North Carolina’s population is spread out among cities stretching 300 miles from the coast to the mountains.
Rural organizing matters. You can’t win if you don’t show up to play.
Update: Fixed failed display from newsletter.